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Wednesday, July 2, 2014

Blackberry has all but abandoned the Playbook and many companies are pulling their support. Here at Good e-Reader we keep this tablet relevant by testing modern apps and ensuring they work.

Pou – Do you have what it takes to take care of your very own alien pet?! Feed it, clean it, play with it and watch it grow up while leveling up and unlocking different wallpapers and outfits to satisfy your unique taste. How will YOU customize your POU?

The Weather Channel – The Weather Channel's staff of 200+ meteorologists, along with our patented ultra-local TruPoint(sm) technology, allow us to provide you with the weather tools you need to plan your day, week, or even the next hour.

Rogers Anyplace TV Home Mobile – Rogers Anyplace TV Home Edition is a free service for Rogers Digital TV customers with any digital set-top-box model.

Tube Now – With this application while you're watching video you can compose SMS, launch other applications: Facebook, G+ … to chatting with your friend… your video still playing on the top. Even you can make a phone call your video's always continue playing . It look like Video Player on your Computer. Really multitasks!!!

Runtastic Road Bike – Take your cycling to a new level with Runtastic! Road Bike is the ultimate, road biking performance app, which transforms your smartphone into the best bike computer on the market – with over 50 cycle features, compatible velo hardware, and a complimentary fitness site.

Amazon Kindle- The Kindle app puts over a million books at your fingertips. It's the app for every reader, whether you're a book reader, magazine reader, or newspaper reader—and you don't need to own a Kindle to use it. Choose from over a million Kindle books from the Kindle Store or enjoy popular magazines like The Economist and Reader's Digest with high-resolution color images.

Olive Tree Bible Reader – BibleReader is an amazing way to read & study the Bible. Write a note, highlight, and bookmark your favorite passages, and then back up or sync them to another device with Olive Tree's FREE cloud backup service. With split-screen viewing and advanced search, BibleReader is a powerful Bible study aid. Installing BibleReader will also give you immediate access to download more than 100 free titles, and over 600 popular Bible study products can be easily purchased from within the application.

PicsArt – Photo Studio – PicsArt is a free, full-featured photo editor and art community. Packed with more features than in many paid apps, PicsArt has become one of the world's most popular photo apps by wrapping the best of what desktop photo and image editing suites can offer in an amazingly intuitive and easy-to-use user interface. We've backed that up with the ability to connect and share your work with a global community of other artists.

Formula One Racing – Collect racing points by challenging other teams. Use attack modes to make your car stronger and improve your driving and racing results!

This week Good e-Reader puts the priority on the Top 10 New Android APps of the week! There are thousands of new apps released every day, its hard to keep track of the best ones out there.

AOL @ Brazil – Don't miss a beat in Brazil. Get the latest scores, photos, videos and news from the 2014 FIFA World Cup. AOL Brazil includes updates from around the tournament in Brazil. This easy to follow, curated feed gives you everything you need to stay up-to-date on all of the games in Brazil.

RedFlagDeals – Discover where Canadians have been saving for over 10 years! The RedFlagDeals App for Android makes it easy to stay on top of the latest Canadian deals, coupons, and freebies. Join the RFD community through the forums section by sharing your best finds and browsing thousands of discussions.

Android L Keyboard – The keyboard from the Android L Developer Preview, modified to run as a standalone app by Chrisch1974 and I. Free, no ads, no bloat. No root required. Old users who can’t change to Material may need a reinstall. To show Emojis button, hold down Enter key.

Going Going Gone: HR Classic – Friends become rivals in the Official ESPN Going Going Gone: Homerun Classic. Knock it out of the park with the ultimate homerun derby experience featuring an explosive homerun derby experience in which you compete to crush your rivals and top the rankings. Customize your batter with hundreds of options and get ready to knock it out of the park. You haven't played baseball quite like this, with a brand new social versus mode. Unlock dozens of bats and power-ups to crush your friends and earn an unbeatable high score. Sporting three different ways to play you will never run out of fun with classic arcade, Facebook rivals, and clash in versus mode. What are you waiting for? Grab your bat step up to plate and get ready for some baseball with the ultimate free to play homerun derby experience Going Going Gone: Homerun Classic.

Nudge Health Tracking Curated – Nudge brings all of your healthy living together in one app, with one score. Connect Nudge with your favorite health tracking apps and wearables like RunKeeper, Moves, Fitbit, and more to see how your Nudge Factor stacks up against your friends.

YouTube Creator Studio – The official YouTube Creator Studio app makes it faster and easier to manage your channel on the go. Check out your latest stats, respond to comments, and get customized notifications so you can stay connected from anywhere.

VLC for Android Beta – VLC media player is a free and open source cross-platform multimedia player that plays most multimedia files as well as discs, devices, and network streaming protocols. This is a BETA version of the port of VLC media player to the Android platform. It plays both audio and video.

Google Cardboard – Cardboard puts virtual reality on your smartphone. Try a variety of immersive demos on Android, and get inspired to build your own using the VR Toolkit at http://g.co/cardboard.

There was a time when admitting that you and your significant other met online was embarrassing; these days it is nearly a cliche. Many services exist that promise to help you meet your next special someone, and adding to that list is Hinge: a dating app with a pocket freshly full of venture funding (to the tune of $4.5M) from groups like Founder Fund and Lowercase Capital.

Unlike many dating sites, Hinge does a little extra work to make sure you are a real person –requiring you to have a Facebook login that ensures both parties in each connection have valid profiles (the developers promise not to post anything on your timeline without your permission). From there, it’s a bit like an evolution of the old matches made by friends –as daily batches of connections are presented to you, assembled from your extended social circles.

The transparent nature of Hinge may unnerve a few people, but it should also bring comfort: profiles, photos and full names –everybody is who they say they are! Taking it a step further, you will also be able to see your friends in common, religion, and plenty of other details that should help you to determine if there is interest and compatibility.

Unfortunately Hinge is only available in NYC, LA. SF, DC, ATL, Chicago, Philly, and Dallas –though I am sure additional locations will be added soon with all of that development capital the company possesses.

Are you looking for a date next Saturday night? Download Hinge for free now.

Trump Hotels has announced they are scaling back leaving newspapers outside guests rooms every morning. The company intends on making them exclusively available by request only and will be moving forwards digital distribution.

PressReader and Trump Hotels have come to an agreement to have digital newspapers available to their guests. The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and 2,500 other publications are currently available.

To access the service, guests can connect their personal laptop, tablet or smartphone to the hotel’s Wi-Fi network and go to PressReader.com or launch the PressReader mobile app for phones and tablets. Users can then download the full edition of their selected title and even continue to read it after departing the hotel.

My daily YouTube rummaging turned up a video of an interesting-looking new E Ink device called the E-Card. According to the description, the E-Card is a smartphone reading companion that can display ebooks, comics, and other content from a mobile phone via Bluetooth. Basically the E-Card is like the Oaxis InkCase and PocketBook CoverReader, minus […]

Traditional magazine advertising often captivates readers attention due to color, gloss and shine. When it comes to reading on a tablet, such as the iPad, do advertisements still resonate?

According to new research by GfK MRI Starch Advertising readers respond to digital advertisements at the same rate as print. They found that the average level of reader recall for both print and digital ads last year was 52%. The most effective digital magazine ads were recalled by more than 80% of readers, in line with the most effective print ads.

Not all adverts are created equal and the research found that customers respond to very specific campaigns. Advertisements for for household products had the highest average reader recall scores. Vegetable juices had a 66% average level of reader recall, while candy and beverages tied for the second highest average reader recall score for print ads at 64%.

28,624 magazine ads in 805 tablet magazine issues published last year were part of the report.

A headline in the Wall Street Journal today promised that a senior executive at Amazon had finally spoken openly about the ongoing dispute between the online retail giant and Hachette Book Group, one of the mainstays of publishing and a member of the Big Five. And the remarks attributed did come from VP Russ Grandinetti, but that’s really where the amazement of the announcement stopped.

Grandinetti maintained the position that Amazon has held all along, that it is simply fighting for the best prices to give its customers. But instead of taking that at face value–despite the fact that Amazon has built itself into one of the most customer-centric entities in the retail space–those who hate the empire that it has become are determined that there is an ulterior motive, that the retailer is just throwing its weight around and outlining terms that will be adhered to at all costs.

Odd…the Publix grocery store in my town refuses to sell my favorite brand of vegan cheese, and no one’s picketing out front.

As the country wrestles with the aftermath of the Supreme Court decision this week that gave another company the power to do pretty much as it pleases with regard to how it conducts business and employee relations, it’s easy to lose sight of the fact that Amazon is not required to conduct business with any single entity. In fact, Amazon has been criticized in the past for refusing to sell certain books and for removing content that it deemed inappropriate from its retail shelves, but is now being criticized for not stocking titles from a supplier with whom it currently has no valid terms.

However the terms and the battle end, it is nice to know that both companies feel so strongly about their positions–one that customers deserve the best possible price and the other that authors are true artists who need to be compensated as much as possible–that they are willing to continue the fight in order to achieve their goals.

I wanted to see if the new Onyx Boox T68 Lynx could pull off being an E Ink comic reader using the Comixology app for Android. The app is of course designed for Android tablets and phones with LCD screens, so you never really know what to expect on an E Ink screen. For the […]

I have been a library user for the majority of my life. I was taken there as a young child by my parents for story time, I studied there throughout high school and college, and I've use their quiet corners to hide from the world when I needed to clear my head. I've always appreciated what librarians, those "keepers of the knowledge," have provided, but it wasn't until my four years here at OverDrive that I've truly come to respect everything they do.

It's no secret that librarians are essential to OverDrive. You're the reason we exist. On a daily basis the members of Team OverDrive (many of whom come from library backgrounds) work with thousands of librarians from public, school, academic and corporate libraries. We partner together to create new collections for patrons, add new features to websites and come up with ways to bring new users to these vital community centers. These collaborations continue to result in thousands of new patrons discovering the library every single day. But it's not why we love librarians.

We love librarians for their passion. When someone chooses to become a librarian, it's not simply a job. It's more than just a career. Becoming a librarian means a life of advocacy, teaching, raising awareness and scratching, fighting and clawing to continue to show how vital these gateways of knowledge are. It feels like not a week goes by without some website writing about the "death of the library," but that couldn't be more wrong. The innovation, determination and fire that come from the librarians who fight every day for their cause is proof that libraries are not going anywhere.

This past weekend at American Library Association's annual conference in Las Vegas, I was reminded once again of how amazing librarians truly are. They are smart, adaptable, and intelligent, constantly challenging us to improve our service and our mission. Librarians are demanding – and for good reason. They help bring entire communities the ability to discover new worlds. Like the Lorax and the trees, librarians speak for the reader both young and old. They aren't simply passionate because they love what they do; they're passionate because they realize how vital their presence is to the world.

The library is more than just a place to get books, be they physical or digital. The library is a place to collaborate, innovate and learn. It's where you can research a paper, get help with your resume, work on a business proposal, get fresh food from a summer farmers' market, and teach a young child a lifetime love of reading. Neil Gaiman once famously said, "Google can bring you back 100,000 answers. A librarian can bring you back the right one." Librarians are more than just people with answers to your questions, though. They're the ones fighting to make sure you always have a place to find those answers. They're the ones helping you discover your next great read. They're providing a safe environment for children and adults alike. They're the heart of the community and they are constantly striving to make sure that heart keeps beating. Being a librarian is more than just a job; it's a lifetime commitment to knowledge and innovation. It's a culture and a passion that are interwoven with civic growth. It's a movement forever worth fighting for. That is why we love librarians.

Adam Sockel is a Marketing Communication Specialist with OverDrive. He is jealous of the amount of energy every librarians seems to have.

In a heartfelt and obviously saddened letter today, the organizers behind World Book Night announced that they would no longer be able to continue the US program, despite its three year history of distributing great reads to reluctant readers through volunteers across North America. The program, which was was supported by publishers, authors, booksellers, and individual donors, placed one million books each year with readers who may not have otherwise had access.

In the letter to former book givers, the organizers cited the lack of funding as the reason for having to end the program, despite the generous support of the publishers who made the titles available and Ingram, who printed the specially branded books.

World Book Night U.S. Board Chairman Michael Pietsch stated in the letter, “World Book Night’s first three years have been a profound experience for everyone involved. The altruistic spirit of the givers and of industry supporters have reminded us all of the transformative impact books have on people’s lives, and of the power of a book as a gift. The World Book Night Board joins me in extending their deep gratitude to all who have taken part.”

WBN U.S. Exec Director Carl Lennertz added, “Some of you know our names here, but I want to be sure you know these–Laura Peraza and Carolyn Schwartz. They have been here since day one, and they, along with you, are my heroes. Alia Almeida joined us this year and was a creative force. A list of all the booksellers, librarians, authors, and folks in publishing and at Ingram would be too long to include here, but they know who they are and I know they have loved being a part of this beautiful thing we did together.”

WBN has been at the heart of putting great titles, many of them challenged or banned books or books that were written by authors whose titles have come under fire, into the hands of readers. This past staging of WBN saw a grassroots movement spring up after one of the previous years’ titles, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie, was banned in one US school system; a student and a few concerned citizens organized the funds and donations to distribute the book to all of the students who signed a petition to reinstate the title.

One of the Android apps that I wanted to try on the Onyx Boox T68 is Feedly, an RSS news reader app. Most ebook readers, including the Kindle Paperwhite, Nook Touch and Kobo eReaders, don’t support reading RSS feeds natively, and using their web browsers for such is too troublesome. You can setup Calibre to […]

Pottermore is running a 25% off sale on Harry Potter ebooks from now until July 31st. The 25% off sale price applies to the first book in the series, as well as collections for books 1-3 and the complete collection of all seven ebooks. That takes the price of the first ebook, Harry Potter and […]

Greg Cope mailed us a few weeks ago with a pointer to this project, which has been monitoring DevOps at the Financial Times (FT) here in the UK.

It’s hard for everyone in the group to simultaneously maintain an overview of the health of the stack under normal circumstances. They use Nagios, a great piece of kit with one fatal flaw: Nagios emails everybody on the team every time a check changes state. Checks change state all the time, and that many emails causes the FT team to enter a state where absolutely none of them reads emails from Nagios, because they clog up their inboxes.

Silvano Dossan, who works on the team, says:

Our Nagios servers have been configured to check every important parameter, from basic disk and CPU checks to HTTP, application, database and jconsole via Jolokia. All we need is some way to communicate clearly when a check fails.

The team rejected shared office displays in the form of monitors (too much text, too hard to read from a distance). They also rejected a particularly horrible idea whereby a single team member would be allotted the task of staying alert and monitoring all Nagios’ mails for the week, feeding back news of any disasters to the rest of the group. Sounds horrific.

Silvano sat back to think about exactly what they needed and didn’t need from alerts.

None of the above satisfied our needs. Something is missing. When something fails I want an alarm bell, a siren, or a flashing light that is so bright my eyes explode. A warning system that is in everyone's face. No escape. There should be no excuse for anyone to not know when something in the stack has broken. "What do you mean you didn't know the site was down, there is a mongoose running around the office!”

Introducing SAWS ! "Silvano's Awesome Warning System".

Well I did spend my evenings and weekends making this so forgive me the naming it after myself.

Rejecting the mongoose idea, Silvano bought a strip of something called Blinkytape (having looked at their website I’m off to buy one myself when I’m done writing this): a flexible strip of 60 RGB LEDs, with a microcontroller already embedded in the strip. Using a Raspberry Pi and a lot of glue and sticky tape, he produced a perfectly simple, unmissable display to demonstrate the health of the stack.

Silvano says:

A good monitor system should display the health status of the stack to as many people as possible in as simple format as possible. The more people that know the health state of the stack, the better chance of someone picking it up and resolving the issue quickly.

SAWS simply shows by grouping LED's if each Nagios server has an error. Green, orange, yellow, red and flashing red LED's representing OK, Unknown, Warning, Critical or Critical for over 30 minutes. Blue LED's swoosh back and forth like a Cylon to indicate the python script is running and the data is up to date.

It’s an ingenious solution: and it works. There can’t be a cleaner stack in the country, now SAWS is in place, and the team have been incredibly enthusiastic about the change. You can read more about it over at Engine Room the FT’s tech blog; and Silvano has made all the code available at GitHub.

The Onyx Boox T68 Lynx is the very latest e-reader to hit the market and is fairly compelling with its open Android concept. One of the primary benefits of this ultramodern reader is the ability to read in the dark and have control over the illumination settings. Unlike smartphones and tablets, the light does not shine in your eyes, instead its evenly distributed across the screen via LED lights on the bottom of the bezel. Today, we give you a very accurate nighttime reading test to gauge whether or not this competes against the Kindle Paperwhite or Kobo Aura.

The front-lit display on the T68 was surprisingly excellent. It had very even light distribution, which makes it way more viable than the Nook Glowlight or 1st generation Kindle Paperwhite. It really gives Kobo and Amazon a run for their money with the clarity of the screen and pure whites. Most e-readers have a pale blue hue to their front-lit technology, Onyx seems to have solved it.

One of the drawbacks of the illumination system is that you cannot control the various brightness levels within apps. You can only customize the settings on the main home screen or within the stock e-reading app. You can only turn it off and on by pressing down on the center button for two seconds.

The Onyx Boox T68 Lynx is one of the first commercially viable e-readers that has an open version of Google Android. This means, you can load in your own apps or install your favorites via Google Play. Today, we look at various e-reading apps, such as Kindle, Wattpad, Aldiko, Marvel Comics and a number of others.

This device runs Android 4.0.4, which means almost all of the current generation e-reader apps will be able to run. The Lynx does have performance issues with any app that involves page turn animations. Amazon, B&N, Kobo, Marvel and Wattpad all have their apps designed to take advantage of tablets and smartphones. They dress them up with in-app animations, such as page turns and peaking. It is almost impossible to disable these features, which makes the Onyx a real challenge to use your favorites.